Using Evidence to Strengthen Your Arguments
· What Is Evidence?
Evidence is the facts or sources that support
your written argument.
In a literature course, for instance, evidence would be a quotation
from the text that helps you make your point. In a write-up of
a scientific experiment, evidence would be the data you collected
in your experiment that prove or disprove a thesis.
· Why Do We Need Evidence?
Evidence is central to any written argument
because it provides the facts around which you create your argument,
your opinion. Without evidence, an argument is a windy, flimsy
statement of one person's opinion. With evidence, an argument
is grounded in facts and given shape. Evidence is the critical
link that helps you prove your points.
· Can Evidence Speak for Itself?
No. This is where you come in. It is simply
not enough to drop a quotation into your paper and expect your
reader to be convinced of your point.
· So How Can We Speak for and
through Evidence?
When you use evidence, your role is to
show your reader that evidence supports your argument. Consider
your role as writer analogous to that of a lawyer in a court of
law. When you introduce evidence, you must tell the jury--your
readers--why this evidence supports your argument. Evidence must
be analyzed and interpreted. What does the evidence say and how
should your reader understand it? How does the evidence support
the larger ideas at work in the paper? You need to make these
connections for your reader.
Examples
· Unsuccessful Use of Evidence
(as if it spoke for itself):
Frederick Douglass gains self-confidence
when he fights back against the cruel slave-owner Mr. Covey. Douglass
notes that the battle "rekindled the few expiring embers
of freedom and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It
recalled the departed self-confidence and inspired me again with
the determination to be free" (Douglass, 1845, p. 43). This
quotation alone captures the essence of Douglass's feelings after
his self-reliance was challenged by his slave master and he prevailed.
Problem: This use of evidence
does not work because the author does not show why the evidence
is important, or what it does. The writer repeats rather than
analyzes what is said. Her thesis is about self-reliance, so she
should focus on how this quotation shows that Douglass became
self-reliant.
· Another Unsuccessful Use of
Evidence (the writer "dumps" the quotation and does
not explain it):
As a self-conscious boy, Douglass relied
on other slaves' mistakes to protect him. He was always aware
of how white men could trick slaves and make money for themselves
and so he never trusted white men. "White men have been known
to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch
them and return to their masters" (p. 25).
Problem: Not only does the
writer fail to introduce the quotation with his own words but
he also "dumps" the evidence. What did you learn from
this paragraph? What's the author's point? Are the first and second
sentences connected? To leave a quotation at the end of a paragraph
is to leave your job undone. You must tell the reader why the
quotation is significant and show how the quotation connects back
to your main idea.
· Successful Use of Evidence
to Support Ideas:
Emerson believes that people must accept
who they are and embrace their talents and their minds. We've
all been taught the saying, "No pain, no gain." Emerson
goes one step further, claiming that "A man is relieved and
gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best,
but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.
It is a deliverance that does not deliver" (Emerson, 1993,
p. 20). He is explaining here that one's heart truly needs to
be dedicated to his task in order to reach fulfillment. Achieving
fulfillment is, in essence, a step towards self-reliance.
What Is Good Here: This author
uses evidence, an actual quotation and correct citation of author,
year, and page number, a) to provide a scholarly record of where
to find this reference, and b) to support his points. The writer's
thinking here is clear in that he analyzes the evidence and draws
conclusions from it.
· What to Keep in Mind:
Whenever you use a quotation, show your
reader the thinking that went into choosing that quotation. What
does it mean and why is it relevant to your point? Evidence is
the framework of an argument, but you must do the arguing around
that framework. If you want your reader to believe your argument,
you must do the thinking for your reader. It is up to you to tell
your reader what to think about the evidence you provide.